*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x R3/R4 Owner's Lounge Thread

Well, all I can say is that I believe the 5 beeps after a flash is normal as the CMOS sate/time will have been reset to an internal default (used to be 1987!) and it thinks the CMOS battery has failed.

It's looking like your 460m is dead. The only other thing to try is the cable from the panel to the MB. If this comes loose it's the same scenario.

 

try to unplug and reinsert the monitor cable. @MickyD1234. will an hdmi monitor work ?

 

You'd think it would but I've had people try that and unless the video sub-system is working perfectly it never gets that far

 

will report back in a few

 

Ok "SUCCESS" when i heard the 8 beeps. I restarted and puggled up my external monitor and pressed FN F6 during boot and it went right in to windows. I used the A07 bios file.. Thank you to everyone who helped i wish i could buy u all a round and beers

 

Haha, good stuff! I'm sure you won't be enabling the IGP any time soon!

 

Never..lolq!!!!!!

 

Glad you got it fixed.

 

that's awesome! I'm glad it works fine now.

 

I have done the vent clean as suggested but not yet the repaste. I also added a couple of beer tops under the case to elevate a bit.

New results are for prime95 the high cpu was 93c with average of 86c - so 2 degrees less.

worth the 20 minutes spent

 

still pretty warm. What are you ambient temps?

 

Yep, that's still a bit warm. Assuming that you cleaned out the vents properly and there's no dust left in there, then a CPU repaste could be in order. I know I would certainly repaste it, but I have repasted a number of laptops. I've used the line method and the spread method of applying paste on my CPU in this particular laptop and I got identical results. I used Arctic Silver 5, which is pretty good, but not the best, here is a link to the spread method & the line method:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/ss/intel_app_method_surface_spread_v1.1.pdf
http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/vl/intel_app_method_vertical_line_v1.1.pdf

Don't "tint" the CPU though if you do the line method, because there's no metal cap on the CPU for laptop CPUs. You can still "tint" the heatsink though.

Although, before you do any of that, as bigtonyman said, the room temperature is an important factor. If your room temperature is over 26degC then I wouldn't bother repasting, because your CPU will likely run hot if your room temperature is high.

 

ok, thanks for the tips

ambient room temp is about 27-28 degrees

I will buy some repaste, what is better than articsilver?

currently idling and getting 60c for gpu and about 53c for cpu with ambient temp in the low 20's

 

How can ambient room temperature be in the low 20's, when your room temperature is 27-28 degC - that's the high 20's!? Your temps aren't that bad for a room temperature of 28 degC. Repasting wouldn't hurt though, especially if you're quite a practical person in these things.

There's only a couple of degrees of difference between all the pastes, most of it comes down to you doing a good job applying it. Here's a link showing performance of different pastes:
Charts, benchmarks Thermal Compound Charts, [5] CPU Air Cooling, Low Pressure

Arctic MX-4 did well! Supposed to be easy to apply to, which is perhaps the most important aspect. Here's a link to the MX-4 product page:
ARCTIC | MX-4 | high performance thermal compound | thermal paste | efficient heat transfer | overclocking | lower the core temperature | High conductivity |Non conductive | Non capacitive | long life | overclocking | silent | quiet | low noise | Gam

EDIT: I wouldn't get the IC Diamond stuff, it can scratch your CPU & heatsink, and I don't think it's easy to apply, but I mention this because often people quote it as being the best, but it's not worth it in my eyes.

 

So installing a 3920xm tomorrow into my M17x R4. Anything special I should do? I was looking at repasting the gpu (GTX680M) as well with some AS5. Was also thinking of getting a GTX 780m but is it truly worth it?

 

Oh my lord, don't get a 780M if you've got a 680M, unless you want only 15% more performance, because if you overvolt & overclock both towards their max then this is the difference you would likely see, also the 780M is only 25-30% faster than a 680M anyway at stock. If anything, flash a modified VBIOS to your 680M & overclock & possibly overvolt until the Maxwell cards come out.

About the CPU, don't know if there's anything special you need to do, was the 3920XM offered as an option for the R4? If it was then it's just plug & play I think.

 

Get that sucker overclocked!!!! naw the 780m isn't big enough of an upgrade from the 680m from point of view to justify the cost. Just my personal views.

 

SNAP!! Identical posts & timings!

 

And about 2 mins from a triple post the same

 

Guys, I have 2 problems on windows 8.1 with my alienware m17x r4

Solve a problem with COMPAL Embedded System Control
Solve a problem with your sensor device

I've installed all my drivers and applications. So, I don't know what I'm missing here. Could anyone help me please?

 

That I think is the freefall protection driver?

 

I'd say that is the alienfx control module

The free fall protection thingie is from ST electronics

 

Both ST electronics and alienware command center is installed on my PC

 

Can you post a picture of your device manager?

 

Just wanted to say that my 680M with custom pads is still working and since it's on 980/2300 mhz.
It's awesome

 

does anyone know where to get the unlocked bios updates for the R4? other than the techinfo forum as the downloads don't work.

 

I think you just need more than 5 posts on the Tech Inferno forums, and then you're allowed to download! Just make a few good quality posts (otherwise they'll be removed by the moderators if you just Spam it to get 5 posts).

 

Here it is..

 

ok, cheers

 

Hey guys, I have the opportunity to buy a second hand Alienware M17X R4 (with warranty) (FHD 120ghz 3D screen, Intel i7 3630Qm and the GTX680m) for the same price as an MSI GT60/Sager with the i7 4700 and 770m, do you think its a good buy in comparison?

 

I'd personally say so. Did they ever fix the cooling with the MSI machines with that single fan or does it still really suck?

 

Considering the M17x R4 is used, it probably isn't worth as much, but it will perform better because of the 680M. The 120Hz screen is also very nice and will make things appear even better. If I were you, I'd buy the M17x R4 for as cheap as possible, then I'd grab a 3920XM/3940XM and install it. That CPU combined with the 680M will be an awesome combination, especially for benchmarks.

 

I believe the same, it depends on how it has been used. The 680m will perform better but if the machine is not in pristine condition I wouldn't do it. BUT, there could be some good options on our Outlet with warranty included.

 

I'd get the M17xR4, but I wouldn't bother upgrading the CPU, it's a perfectly good CPU for gaming, it would be a waste of money to upgrade the CPU - the GPU is the limiting factor in almost all games with a few rare exceptions. The 120Hz screen is a real bonus too. 680M significantly better than 770M. Go with R4 unless it's a dog!

 

Hi thanks for your input, what do you mean by there being some good options?

Btw im getting the system for $1500 and its in pretty good condition id say a 9.5/10, do you thinks its a good price considering the specs?

Can you also tell me if id be able to upgrade my warranty? and how much would it cost, Btw im in Canada. Thanks

 

He's just saying that you might be able to find a good deal on a refurbished unit from the Dell Outlet. If you're not sure what the Dell Outlet is, just type 'Dell Outlet' and 'Canada' into Google. It's OK, I did it for you, here it is:
Official Dell Store | Refurbished Dell Laptops, Desktops & More

R4 is good, 680M is good. Don't know about getting a warranty extension - Dell would be able to tell you.

 

Hey so quick question, would a M17x R1 keyboard fit in a M17x R4? The only other thread I could find asking a similar question came down to musings about a 16:10 vs a 16:9 chassis.
Some sellers I found seem to be advertising the sizes as compatible, while other make no mention outside of the respective model.
As far as I can tell, all the keys seem to be the same but I would be worried about the size / interface compatibility.

 

Aloha Guys, You can see my system spec at my Sig. I have a week days off from my work and plan to upgrade my OS version. Currently I'm using Windows 8 pro and plan to try the 8.1 version. Is it worth it ? My R3 is quite an old system right now, and I'm little worried about the driver for all my hardware on my laptop. It is good to go if I just using all driver which I got from the Dell Support site ? ( I haven't check the site, but it's not secret if Dell only updating that site maybe every 5 year or more.... not to mention the old system like R3 ) or any particularly driver that I should get it from different source ? Did I need to do the fresh Install rather than just upgrade directly ? I did the fresh install when upgrading from 7 to 8.

Sorry for my bad English..... ^^

 

The size is practically the same, and both keyboards even have the screws in the same place, I think the problem here would be the connections, the backlight and Keyboard connections are located a little differently on both designs, and, there could be firmware incompatibility, we don't recommend it.

 

There is no official driver support by Dell for Windows 8 or 8.1 for the M17x r3, if when you update to Windows 8.1 a component requires a driver, you should be able to find it in the manufacturer's website.

You should try the upgrade first, if you are already using Windows 8 it's easier, but if you run into any problems, try a clean install.

Good luck

 

Upgrade should be fine, it worked fine for the R4, no new drivers really required. Upgrading between 8 and 8.1 shouldnt be an issue, its pretty failsafe in that the upgrade will fail if a driver doesn't work. Just reverts back to windows 8 usually.

 

Yeah, thanks for the advice. Just Upgrading this morning. Have a little problem during Installing progress after downloading the data when it stuck at 52 %. Search a couple of information, and found the Anti Virus program are getting in the way. The only driver I need to reinstall are the Graphic Driver. My current driver should be compatible with 8.1 but I don't know why windows erase that. The one thing I don't like when not using a fresh Install is to see the windows.old folder on my main disk. so, anyway to get rid of that ?

 

still can't get any new drivers to install through windows 7 for my 6990m. I can get them to install just fine without the igpu enabled, but then my screen is really dim and it bothers me. Hope I can find a fix soon. And 1440p monitor should be here tomorrow. Now to just wait a week or two and order a shiny new GXT 780 ti Classified to replace my GTX 770.

 

That's strange with your driver issue, I'm sure you've tried clean installs & wiping the drivers with driver cleaners before reinstalling. Are other 6990M users on the R3 having the same problems?

Cool, a 780ti! Wouldn't you have got more performance from just buying another 770 to go with sli?

 

I believe that another 770 would be better in the short term, but in the long term I can always upgrade to another 780 ti if I choose.

 

True! 780ti is more than enough for current normal res gaming anyway, without the occasional sli issue too. Sounds good either way to me!

 

Hello guys, the tech guy has changed my alienware m17x r4's screen with a 120hz screen (mine was 60hz). And I have 2 questions;
1- My laptop do not detect intel integrated graphics card anymore. Is there anyway that I can use it again ? Or, am I not able to use integrated graphics card at all?
2- Is my screen 3D now ? If it is, what sort of glasses do I need to test it on movies or sth.

Thank you guys.

 

Hi, the 120hz display is connected differently to the MB and the intel is disabled. No way to use it with a native 120hz display .

As long as they used the whole assembly that includes the IR emitter that the glasses use you are 3d ready. The stereoscopic menu in the driver should show 'Alienware 3D vision notebook' in the monitor drop-down.

3d vision glasses are what you want - an ebay search. NV DO sell them separately so don't get caught paying for the whole kit (for desktops).

On an R4 you can also use 3d vision 2 glasses as the display supports 'lightboost' which improves peripheral vision and they are slightly larger. The older ones work fine though.

 

yea 1440p is quite a bit more demanding than 1080p, but the 780 ti should handle it just fine.

 

Quick question: Is there a drive size limit for R3s as it pertains to SSDs? I'm on BIOS A09, if it matters (I haven't had the need to go higher).

I'm thinking about getting an SSD drive and want to go as big as possible. My current setup is 2 x 750gb drives in RAID0. I want to lose minimal drive space.

I plan to buy a Samsung 840 750gb drive. The idea is to replace one of the 750gb drives with the 750gb SSD (breaking up the RAID config).